Part II World War II was fought using piston engined aircraft, with thousands upon thousands of them produced during the hostilities, but as the war closed the very first jet aircraft made their appearance, notably the German ME262 and the British Gloucester Meteor – both twin engined fighters. The Vought Corsair becoming airborne at Wanaka Consequently at the end of the war, there were many fighter aircraft, including brand new ones, that were very rapidly becoming obsolete. The air forces had no need in peace time for all these aircraft and servicemen, and as pilots and others returned to ci ..read more

when I was eleven years old, my parents took us to an airshow at Rukahia Airport, near Hamilton. I was already very interested in becoming a pilot, which I later did, and the airshow was memorable for being the only time I saw the British Avro Vulcan bomber flying. The Vulcan did not land, but gave us a wonderful handling display, and I remember that when the pilot opened up the throttles and lit the afterburner the sound vibrated all through my body! RNZAF C130H (NZ) Hercules – Contax 139Q, Kodak Ektar 100 It was also memorable as it was the first time I saw the Royal New Zealand Air force di ..read more

We went to the famous Warbirds Over Wanaka Airshow last weekend. Held every two years at Easter, this is the first since 2018, with the previous two planed shows cancelled due to COVID and the resulting lockdowns and border closures which kept New Zealanders safer than just about any other country. Vaught Corsair getting airborne at Wanaka. Our Vicar is an Englishman and aviation enthusiast – actually he is an aeroplane tragic – who when he arrived last year quickly roped us in to going to the show with him. We went on the Saturday, and I shot five rolls of film! The scans have just come back ..read more

is today. Who has believed our message, and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?  For he grew up before him like a tender plant, and like a root out of a dry ground; he had no form and he had no majesty that we should look at him, and there is no attractiveness that we should desire him.  “He was despised and rejected by others, and a man of sorrows, intimately familiar with suffering; and like one from whom people hide their faces; and we despised him and did not value him.  “Surely he has borne our sufferings and carried our sorrows; yet we considered him stricken, a ..read more

with generally clear air – so clear that there is an Atmospheric Research Station of international importance just up the road from our house. We are at an elevation of about 1,000ft above sea level, and the sky, and the clouds are just amazing, constantly changing and often full of drama! Looking up the farm track at sunset Capturing the essence of this, with all it’s drama, often requires the use of either ND Grad filters, or CPL filters, or sometimes both, as there can be a huge contrast in the light especially early or late in the day. This image was made using two ND Grads arranged so the ..read more

Was a farmer and engineer who arrived in New Zealand from England in 1882, with his wife Hannah. They settled at Oturehua, in Central Otago and just a short distance from us here in Lauder, where Ernest initially ran a flour mill, before developing his 150 acre farm and inventing and manufacturing farm tools in his small workshop on the farm. The Engineering Workshop at Oturehua He is most famous for inventing the wire strainer, used by farmers the world over to tighten the wire used in farm fences – the Hayes wire strainer remains in production today, along with a number of his other inventio ..read more

is a village about 35 minutes drive from here. Originally a gold mining settlement it became the major commercial centre of the Maniototo area until the railway arrived in the late nineteenth century. The terrain made it difficult to bring the railway to Naseby, so a new town, Ranfurly, was established a few miles distant and became the commercial hub instead. Naseby – the main street We visited about a year ago, and I took a lot of photos with a Contax I was using for the first time, which turned out to have some quite bad light leaks. This is the only useable image from that visit….it took s ..read more

Pentax, one of the famous Japanese camera makers, have been teasing photographers over the past year with the news of a new film camera that they are developing. Apparently it will be a compact camera – a Point and Shoot – targeted towards younger photographers, and taking advantage of both traditional film features, like a manual frame advance lever, and modern electronics. A prototype has been completed, but not shown publicly yet, and yesterday Pentax has started new Instagram and Facebook pages for photographers to follow the progress of this project. So this camera review seems quite appr ..read more

recently came into my care. My brother who lives overseas messaged me out of the blue a few months ago and offered me a camera that came from the estate of a friend of his. Of course I said yes – the Contax II was introduced in 1936, which is when my example was made, and was one of the most significant 35mm cameras ever built. My Zeiss Ikon Contax II Designed by Zeiss Ikon to complete with the Leica camera of the day, it was a masterpiece, with a vertical traveling focal plane shutter capable of an amazing 1/1250 sec shutter speed – more than twice as fast as Leica could manage at the time du ..read more

has been told many times I am sure – there are many versions of it, and the moral is always that old age and treachery will trump youth and strength every time! This is a story about a young bull…… Young heifers in the front paddock about to be taken to the paddock across the road Out cottage is situated on a little over an acre of land, on the edge of the tiny village of Lauder. We are surrounded on three sides, and also across the road, by farmland – the cottage was the farmhouse for many years, until about thirty or so years ago a new house was built up the hill behind us, and the cottage w ..read more